A scientific legacy in Systemic Cell Biology
June 7-9, 2026
In honour of Philippe’s scientific achievements, the Max Planck Institute will host a Memorial Symposium
Date: 2026/06/07 Date: 2026/06/08 Date: 2026/06/09
Time: 14:45 – 20:00 Time: 8:45 – 20:00 Time: 8:45 – 13:30
A Zoom-Link will be provided for participants unable to attend in person
Location: Otto-Hahn-Str. 11, 44227 Dortmund
Accommodation suggestions:
Courtyard by Marriott Dortmund, Emil-Figge-Str. 41
PM-AM Apartments, Hoher Wall 17-19
Leonardo Hotel Dortmund, Burgwall 11-13
B&B Hotel Dortmund City, Burgwall 5
Wyndham Dortmund City, Kampstr. 102-104
Register: Please register free of charge here
In memory of Prof. P.I.H. Bastiaens (1963 - 2025)
With deep empathy, the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology honors the scientific achievements of Philippe both before and after establishing department II (Systemic Cell Biology). He embraced different scientific disciplines to bring fluorescent light to the biochemical protein-activity of cellular signaling networks until his sudden passing on May 15th 2025 at the age of 62. We offer our sympathies to his family and everyone whose life was touched.
Programme
Sunday, June 7th
14:00-15:00 Arrival and Registration
15:00-15:20 Welcome by the MPI managing director Andrea Musacchio
and MPS Vice President Asifa Akhtar
15:20-16:00 From Ras cycles to PDEδ: a journey with Philippe
(Fred Wittinghofer – MPI Dortmund, Oliver Rocks – Charité Berlin)
Coffee break
Session 1 (Chair: Jan Huebinger)
16:30-17:00 Spatiotemporal interrogation of the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway
(Oliver Pertz, Universität Bern)
17:00-17:30 Feedback control of morphogenic signaling by the cytoskeleton
(Leif Dehmelt, TU Dortmund)
17:30-18:00 From subcellular imaging to translational research
(Carsten Schultz, Oregon Health & Science University)
Dinner
19:15-19:45 How SHP2 activates RAS—with a lot of help from microscopy
(Benjamin Neel, NYU Grossman School of Medicine New York)
Monday, June 8th
Session 2 (Chair: Leif Dehmelt)
09:00-09:30 Matter to Life - bottom up design of synthetic immune cells
(Joachim Spatz, MPI for Medical Research Heidelberg)
09:30-10:00 Fluorescence microscopy at Ångström resolution
(Ali Kinkhabwala, Miltenyi Biotec)
10:00-10:30 Functional imaging of the liver – of zombies, murders and suicide
(Jan Hengstler, IfADo, Dortmund)
Coffee Break
11:00-11:20 We have come a long way
(Björn Papke, Charité Berlin)
11:20-11:40 Neural circuit mechanisms underlying self-motion velocity estimation in navigation
(Angel Stanoev, Janelia Research Campus)
11:40-12:00 Modulation of cellular mechanosensing through protein and lipid
interactions of PIEZO1
(Eulashni Chuntharpursat, University of Leeds)
12:00-12:20 Human endothelial microvessels in a multi-well format for
highcontent screening and drug discovery
(Sven Fengler, DZNE, Bonn)
Lunch
Session 3 (Chair: Malte Schmick)
13:30-13:50 Resolving out-of-equilibrium molecular patterns in living cells through cryo-arrest
(Jan Huebinger, MPI Dortmund)
13:50-14:10 Emergent dynamic instability properties from hybrid nucleic acid structure
(Yonatan Biniuri, MPI Dortmund)
14:10-14:30 Oncomimetic β-Catenin activity onset, duration and locus defines
aberrant intestinal development
(Birga Sötje, MPI Dortmund)
Coffee break
15:00-15:30 Extracting biological information from images using FLIM
(Hernan Grecco, University of Buenos Aires)
16:00-16:20 The frequency domain FLIM and personal memories on Philippe
(Anthony Squire, University DUE)
16:20-16:50 Biochemistry illustrated: observing enzymes in their natural habitat
(Ivan Yudushkin, Max-Perutz-lab University Vienna)
16:50-17:10 Building digital twins of patients forpersonalised medicine
(Sheriff Rahuman, EMBL-EBI, Cambride, UK)
Dinner
19:00-19:45 Memories and experiences
(Antonios Konitsiotis, Biontech SE)
Tuesday, June 9th
Session 4 (Chair: Roger Goody)
09:00-09:30 Replication and metabolism in bottom-up life-like systems
(Hannes Mutschler, CCB TU Dortmund)
09:30-10:00 tba
(Silvia Santos, The Francis Crick Institute London)
10:00-10:30 The mousetrap effect for metal ion based imaging – just a funny story
or real science
(Peter Comba, University Heidelberg)
Coffee Break
11:00-11:30 Mechanistic cell biology: Architecture, dynamics and decisions in intracellular networks
(Daniel Rauh, TU Dortmund)
11:30-12:00 Discovering spatial cycles in the cell
(Nachiket Vartak, IfADo, Dortmund)
12:00-12:30 Cell cycle plasticity in human physiology and disease
(Wayne Stallaert, University of Pittsburgh)
12:30-13:00 Signaling dynamics and noise in embryonic stem cells
(Luis Morelli, IBioBA - CONICET / MPSP Institute, Buenos Aires)
13:00-13:15 Closing remarks